Journey to the West is, kinda, the new film from Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle star/director Stephen Chow. He co-wrote, co-directed and produced the film, but doesn’t appear in the movie — still, it bears his distinct influence. The movie features a bizarre collection of monsters and demon hunters, who collide in battles that are decorated with weird, outsized CG embellishments.

This trailer shows some of that crazy stuff, like the guy who inflates his leg to the size of a house, the better to kick someone in the face. There are giant beasts and over the top comedy, all inspired (vaguely) by ancient Chinese tales. Read More »

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week we hate on the Nazi party, get weird with Stephen Chow’s latest, think globally but act locally buying organic, get confused with my inability to decipher what Tim Roth is saying, pick up a sixer of talent, and get all emotional with a movie that took five years to make.

Some of the best movie lore has to do with why projects didn’t happen, rather than the stories behind ones that did. This is halfway to one of those stories. The Green Hornet opens this week as directed by Michel Gondry, but the film might have been very different. Stephen Chow was set to direct, and Nicolas Cage was originally going to play the villain role that was taken instead by Christoph Waltz. Now, there is a bit more detail about the departure of Cage. It might not shock you that one of the key factors was a funny accent. Read More »

It’s a slow news day, and that means rumor time! You might remember that, over a year ago, Stephen Chowstepped away from the director’s chair for The Green Hornet, supposedly to work on his own big Hollywood movie. Shortly afterward, it was said to be a vehicle for Jack Black and Anne Hathaway, and that it would be a big action-packed spectacle, with the CGI and humor that characterizes Chow’s films, just made with a bigger budget.

Now there’s a report that the film might be called Tai Chi, and that it is really a remake of Bruce Lee‘s film Way of the Dragon, released in the US as Return of the Dragon. Read More »

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?

It would appear from a freshly surfaced casting call that the role of Kato in Michel Gondry‘s Green Hornet movie is currently vacant. After it was announced that Seth Rogen was to write, produce and star in a Hornet flick a heady cocktail of skepticism and intrigue flooded the web. Then, it was announced that Stephen Chow was going to both direct and co-star in the picture and the general level of enthusiasm went through the roof. After that, a nosedive as Chow left the director’s seat and while it seemed likely he’d also pass up on the acting position, nothing was made official and Rogen even intimated that Chow was just as likely to be his Kato as ever. This remained the case even after Gondry was announced as director.

Since Sam Raimi and Quentin Tarantino sky-rocketed Stephen Chow’s US reputation with their effusive praise of Shaolin Soccer, you’ll probably find that the least well received picture in Chow’s ouevre has been the sci-fi family film CJ7. Personally though, I absolutely love it, and this is in spite of its sometimes woeful CG work and the occasionally confusing slapstick non-sequiturs (see also: Drag Me to Hell). Despite the director’s long standing promise of a sequel to the masterful Kung Fu Hustle, it seems the first direct follow up to be spawned from one of Chow’s pictures will be a CJ7 continuation – CJ72, if you will. Instead of being live action like the first installment, however, this one is to be all-animated.

China.org.cn is reporting that Anne Hathaway is likely to star in Stephen Chow‘s next movie. When Chow bowed out of directing The Green Hornet, he said that he would like to free some time up to work with Jack Black on a different superhero comedy? Well this is it.

Wei Dasen, a representative of Chow’s production company describes the film as “a superhero, action-packed, special effects-rich, and of course funny” . Sources close to Chow supposedly are saying that the film will be similar in style to the over-the-top parody ala “Kung Fu Hustle”. Chow is writing the screenplay and will also co-star. No further details are available at this time.

The Green Hornet. Well, well, well. What a bumpy ride this one’s been getting in the press and on blogs.

First of all there was a loud shout of skepticism about the casting of Seth Rogen, then euphoria at the signing of Stephen Chow, then Chow puled out of directing and rumours abound that he’s bailing entirely, then the film is reported to be on the chopping block… and now, well, some pretty compelling evidence that it isn’t. Not at all.